Books

Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank

Books
Arts

Through art, 'Smahtguy' tells life story of former Rep. Barney Frank

3:57pm May 04, 2022

by Etelka Lehoczky

Eric Orner's book isn't just a great story, it's an enveloping visual experience crafted by a terrific artist; even if one paged through it without looking at the words, it would be a good read.

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Arts

'Family Of Liars' reveals secrets at the core of the Sinclair family

11:22am May 03, 2022

by Gabino Iglesias

E. Lockhart's prequel to We Were Liars works perfectly well, too, as a standalone coming-of-age novel about grief, addiction, young love, and learning to navigate the world.

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Arts

'The Premonitions Bureau' considers whether some can sense future events

5:00am May 03, 2022

by Ilana Masad

Though winding at times, Sam Knight's book is thought-provoking and deeply researched, presenting the oddity of realized premonitions while allowing readers to come to their own conclusions.

Mourners gather in Littleton, Colo., on April 20, 2021, to remember the victims of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.

How behavioral threat assessment can stop mass shootings before they occur

12:48pm May 02, 2022

by Dave Davies

Journalist Mark Follman says that understanding the psychology of shooters and intervening where appropriate can help prevent massacres from happening. His new book is Trigger Points.

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Arts

'Companion Piece' connects two plagues and two female artists five centuries apart

5:00am May 02, 2022

by Heller McAlpin

By exploring binaries such as imagination versus reality and surface versus depth — with their often blurred boundaries — Ali Smith's latest challenges readers to embrace the indeterminate.

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Arts

'The No-Show' is an adventure in romantic storytelling

4:07pm May 01, 2022

by Carole V. Bell

At its best, Beth O'Leary's tender and fragmented narrative feels like a metaphor for experience — how we only ever know part of the story of our lives and control even less.

Books

A new bride finds something supernatural with her rich husband in 'The Hacienda'

9:14am May 01, 2022

by Ayesha Rascoe

A woman marries a rich man. But what happened to his first wife? And why is his home so cold, so creepy? Ayesha Rascoe talks with Isabel Cañas about her debut novel, "The Hacienda."

What do you call a flower that flits from bird to bird? Which birds dictate the order of the flock while it flies?

Pablo Neruda's question poems, now translated and illustrated for children

7:39am May 01, 2022

by Miranda Mazariegos

Neruda's Book of Questions is well known in Latin American literature. A new bilingual, illustrated selection of his poems gives English-speaking children an opportunity to interrogate the world.

Neal Adams revitalized popular comic book characters including Batman, the Green Lantern, Superman and the X-Men, by reimagining them in a more realistic style.

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Arts

Neal Adams, comic book legend and defender of artists' rights, dies at 80

10:20pm April 30, 2022

by Dustin Jones

Neal Adams revolutionized the comic book industry with his hyper-realistic style for characters such as Batman, Superman, the Green Lantern and the X-Men.

Books
Arts

Fady Joudah shares his favorite #NPRPoetry submissions

5:23pm April 30, 2022

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with poet Fady Joudah about his writing and his favorite listener submissions for National Poetry Month.